Ubuntu Community Garden

Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity”. It is sometimes translated as “I am because we are”. It embodies our efforts to celebrate our roots, care for the earth, and cultivate community.

Our Community Garden envisions a world of right relationships among our neighbors and the Earth, our home. We plant seeds to grow in friendship and to model neighborliness. We cultivate the Earth to learn from the wisdom of Creation and to discover new skills from one another. We harvest the work of our hands to celebrate good healthy food and to nourish hope in those who hunger.

Currently, we have twenty-one 4 ft by 10 ft raised beds. Community garden plots are available to church members and community members. There is a fee of $25 per plot to help cover the expense of water.

Families gain self-reliance through growing their own good, clean, and healthy food. They enjoy the many benefits of gardening in community alongside a diverse group of neighbors. Gardeners are asked to help keep pathways clear of weeds and to participate in work days when available. Water is provided to all gardeners. Gardeners are encouraged to share abundance with one another and the Vecinos Food Pantry. A compost area is available for food waste. We request weed debris be put in the trash. A tool shed is provided with hand tools, rakes, spades, shovels and wheel barrels to assist in your gardening. Synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers are strongly discouraged.

Please contact Jessica Lesko if you are interested in gardening with us at focgreeley@gmail.com.

Beehives

Having hives on-site improves pollination of our crops, and provides a safe refuge for honeybees, which around the world are dying off in alarming numbers. The rapid decrease in pollinators is causing an agricultural crisis. The pollination of many crops is dependent on the hiring of beekeepers, and the shortage of bees in the US has increased the cost to farmers by up to 20%.

The garden’s “top bar beehives” are designed to keep the natural U-shape of a comb, so that the combs can be easily harvested. Each top bar is the natural width of a comb plus one bee. Any wider, and predators could get in; any smaller, and the bees couldn’t pass between the combs.

In harvesting, the bars are removed one at a time, minimizing exposure of the colony. The comb is simply cut from the top bar. Combs are squeezed by hand, then strained twice through a course screen followed by a finer one. Honey is then bottled and capped.

Xeriscape Perennial Demonstration Garden

Xeriscaping is landscaping using drought-tolerant plants whose natural requirements are appropriate to the local climate. It reduces or eliminates the need to water.

All the plants in these beds are perennials – once planted, they will grow and bloom year after year.

Among the plants featured in our xeriscape garden are:

Ground covers: